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Lawmakers get first look at secret Russia inquiry documents during Justice meeting

The meetings, which included a bipartisan contingent of top congressional Democrats and Republicans, are extraordinary in that they were brokered by President Trump, who remains the most prominent subject of the investigation headed by special counsel Robert Mueller.

Lawmakers get first look at secret Russia inquiry documents during Justice meeting

In a shocking move President Trump said he will ask the Department of Justice to investigate whether or not the FBI surveilled his 2016 Presidential campaign. For more on the story here is Zachary Devita.
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WASHINGTON – Lawmakers and White House officials gathered Thursday for two separate classified briefings on an FBI informant's role in the investigation into suspected Russian interference in the 2016 election. It was an extraordinary concession to President Trump who remains the most prominent subject of the inquiry headed by special counsel Robert Mueller.

Top Justice Department and intelligence officials hosted a group of Trump administration officials and Republican allies at Justice before moving to Capitol Hill to meet with congressional Democrats and Republicans who have clashed over whether such information should be provided to the White House and its allies in Congress.

“Nothing we heard today has changed our view that there is no evidence to support any allegation that the FBI or any intelligence agency placed a spy in the Trump campaign or otherwise failed to follow appropriate procedures and protocols," top congressional Democrats said in a joint statement read by California Rep. Adam Schiff, the House Intelligence Committee's ranking Democrat.

Earlier Thursday, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., seized on the inclusion of White House Chief of Staff John Kelly and Emmet Flood, Trump's White House counselor on matters related to the Russia inquiry, saying their presence at the meetings was "inappropriate" since the sessions could offer information on Trump's status as a subject of the investigation.

The White House countered Thursday that Kelly and Flood did not attend the classified portions of the meetings and made only brief remarks before the sessions to "relay the president’s desire for as much openness as possible under the law."

"They also conveyed the president’s understanding of the need to protect human intelligence services and the importance of communication between the branches of government," the White House said.

Trump has alleged that the FBI used the informant to conduct surveillance on his presidential campaign for political purposes. He has mounted a pressure campaign in recent weeks against his own Justice Department to disclose the informant's role in the Russia investigation, which includes whether the president sought to obstruct the inquiry.

Reps. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, and Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, have led a band of conservative Republicans trying to out the informant's role over the objections of the Justice Department. Their efforts are strongly supported by the president.

Yet Trump's efforts to broker Thursday's sessions have only underscored the conflicted nature of holding such meetings: Trump has the constitutional power to give orders to officials overseeing the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election — even though his own campaign is the subject of that investigation.

Rudy Giuliani, Trump's lead personal attorney in the Russia investigation, said a decision on whether the president agrees to an interview with investigators could turn on the release of the documents, which could expose the sources of information that led to the investigation.

"I think they could help us, if they show there is no original basis for the investigation," Giuliani told USA TODAY this week. "Every time we move in the direction of an interview, something weird happens."

Nunes and Gowdy were among those in the first briefing on the documents, followed by the bipartisan congressional delegation known as the "Gang of Eight."

The two Republican chairmen arrived with House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., shortly before noon at the Justice Department, along with Kelly and Flood. The briefing was hosted by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, FBI Director Christopher Wray and Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats.

“I appreciate the Department arranging today’s briefing," Ryan said in a statement. "I cannot and will not comment on a classified session. I look forward to the prompt completion of the intelligence committee’s oversight work in this area now that they are getting the cooperation necessary for them to complete their work while protecting sources and methods.”

Under the original meeting terms, there were no plans for Democrats to be included in the briefings, though Schiff joined the first group.

A second meeting was added late Wednesday after Democrats strongly objected to the partisan nature of the briefings.

Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, which has been conducting a separate review of alleged Russian interference, said Thursday that the separate briefing for Trump's political allies "demonstrates that their interest is not in informing Congress but in undermining an ongoing criminal investigation."

Warner warned that the action would do "permanent, long-standing damage to the practice of bipartisan congressional oversight of intelligence."

"They will also be sending a terrible message to anyone who works in or with our nation’s intelligence community that the White House will always prioritize partisan politics over protecting the people who help keep this country safe," Warner said.

Though there was no evidence that the informant's role was improper, Trump referred to the entire investigation as "SPYGATE."

The president has kept up the pressure in the wake of a New York Times report that a secret FBI source met with Trump campaign officials several times during the 2016 campaign. The informant worked for the FBI as part of its investigation into alleged Russian interference.

The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post identified the source as Stefan Halper, 73, a professor at Cambridge University in England. Halper has received more than $1 million in contracts from the Pentagon's Office of Net Assessment since 2012, federal spending records show, for studies about Russian and Chinese policies and policy options for the U.S. military.

Sunday, Trump demanded that the Justice Department investigate the matter, prompting Justice to announce that it was referring the matter to the department's inspector general for review.

The announcement was accompanied by a warning from Rosenstein, stating that if "anyone did infiltrate or surveil participants in a presidential campaign for inappropriate purposes, we need to know about it and take appropriate action."